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00:00Ashley Bastock of Cleveland.com welcome to the show thanks for having me guys I'll tell you what
00:05it's free agency new league year starts in like 35 minutes my allergies are trying to get the best
00:10of me today but I'm going to try to make it through this segment with you guys unfazed some
00:16are saying this is your flu game it might be my flu game guys holy you are on to something
00:22there
00:22let's let's start that rumor celebrated that one a little bit too much no I like it you got to
00:28celebrate your wins I say that all the time Ashley you do have to celebrate your wins come on I've
00:33covered a team that has won eight games over the last two years I know that better than anyone
00:38free agency is here and keep it locked in on 92.3 the fans for all the latest breaking news
00:43all powered
00:44by exteriors plus let's get to your thoughts on the Browns plan here three uh starters through free
00:50agency including keeping Tevin Jenkins they also traded uh for Titus Howard so far I know there's
00:57still time here but so far what do you think of the early parts of the Browns plans on the
01:01offensive line yeah I plan on writing a column on this actually later today that'll probably go up
01:07tomorrow morning but I mean so far this offensive line rebuild has been as advertised I mean I keep
01:14going back to when we heard from Andrew Barry at the combine two weeks ago and he talked about
01:20modeling this after what Chicago did right and Chicago rebuilt their line in its entirety
01:27basically over the 2025 off season and in order to do that it's like you can't go to one well
01:34for
01:35all your needs so you know Andrew Barry talked about making trades possibly being active in free agency
01:42obviously they have a number of draft picks when there's a pretty deep tackle class and also maybe
01:47using some guys in the building so so far I mean I think we've seen that come to fruition they
01:52make the
01:53trade for Titus Howard who to me I would assume right now he's your starting right tackle he does
01:58have some experience playing left tackle um Zion Williams is your big free agent guard acquisition
02:04Tevin Jenkins even though they didn't draft him I think since he's been in the building they consider
02:09him a guy that they have helped develop into a starting caliber player and then they finalized that
02:17two-year deal or working to finalize that two-year deal with uh Elton Jenkins and to me what they're
02:23paying him like that is starting center money in the NFL so I like this approach so far and and
02:30look
02:30they still have those two first round picks in a pretty deep tackle class I think especially the
02:35Titus Howard trade has given you a bit more leeway in the first round I'm curious this week next week
02:41as
02:41more mock drafts come out if we'll start to see analysts moving away from that trend like it was
02:47really popular in the month of February to give the Browns two tackles with those two first round
02:52picks and I'm kind of to the point where I don't look at that as a necessity anymore I think
02:57they
02:57have some more leeway if there's like a receiver they really like for example because we know there's
03:03a handful of guys potentially in the top 10 for them what is your read on the Joel Batonio situation
03:08now
03:08that's a great question JP and you know my colleague Mary Kay Cabot confirmed today
03:14Joel Batonio doesn't have to make a retirement decision today a league source told her now the
03:22Browns just seem like they are giving him all of the time he wants to make a decision very much
03:28respecting his process Mary Kay also reported this could stretch potentially into next month as well
03:34even though they pushed the void date of his contract back to obviously today the start of
03:39the new league year but just because that void date is there does not mean they need absolutely need a
03:44decision for from him as the new leaguer starts and look I think they're in a great position
03:49if Joel decides to retire I think they would obviously welcome him back with open arms if he decides not
03:58to
03:58retire but I think by at least re-signing Kevin Jenkins making the trade for Zion Williams that they are
04:08in a
04:09position where they do not have to rely on him and that now they're going to be screwed if he
04:16doesn't
04:17come back like I think they're in an okay position either way but it's good that they've given him some
04:23time
04:24here and are respecting this process but look I've been curious like this is not me reporting this is
04:30like pure speculation context clues like the fact that there's just been kind of radio silence around
04:35this it's different it feels different from last year I also keep coming back to Joel getting super
04:42emotional on locker clean out day getting sort of teary-eyed when he was reflecting on his career and
04:49you know saying that he has so much to be proud of and nothing like in the event that it
04:55is over so
04:57that to me is interesting but again we still don't have a final answer on that and it doesn't need
05:04to
05:04come today for any fans wondering Ashley the the big news in the NFL over uh overnight or at least
05:10after
05:11our show was uh the Ravens backing out of the Max Crosby deal they have since signed a Trey Hendrickson
05:17so now they get the player that's about 75 percent of what Max Crosby is but they get to keep
05:23their
05:23their two first what was your read on the situation and kind of how everything fell apart well you can
05:29go and see my live reaction over at our our podcast their orange and brown talk instagram um because we
05:36were recording yesterday and I was in the middle of I think talking about Kevin Jenkins I quite honestly
05:41don't remember when all of our phones started to blow up and that news started to come out so
05:48I definitely think it's like the biggest story in the NFL right now right that was the trade that
05:55sort of started this off season like I think it kind of informed uh how this off season was going
06:02to go
06:02and and look obviously the Raiders think they have that trade they make some other big deals right they
06:07they get Tyler Linderbaum the center uh ironically of course from Baltimore uh they signed him because
06:14he was a free agent and there that I think part of it is just interesting about the other potential
06:21domino effect because obviously we know the Ravens have gone out and got Trey Hendrickson well then it's
06:26like okay who else was in the mix for Trey Hendrickson who might want to try to go back to
06:31the Max
06:31Crosby well I think it's interesting that the Raiders keep kind of putting out there
06:35that they are potentially still willing to keep him which I don't know how the math on that with
06:41their cap situation would figure out because I think they lost like 30 million of cap space
06:46I saw in a tweet last night when this deal fell through but like I think the the interesting part
06:54of that is just the messaging and I'm like hmm is that just to try to drive his trade price
07:00back up
07:01because now our team's going to be trying to offer less than those two first round picks and it's
07:07that's still what the Raiders want so I think the implications too are going to be interesting just
07:12for the Ravens you know we have the owners meetings coming up here in a couple of weeks our team's
07:17really
07:17going to be too crazy to do business with them because it just sounds like everyone knew that as Max
07:23Crosby is he wasn't going to pass a physical or be like ready to play now in early March but
07:30everyone
07:31knew that just given the nature of his injury so it got makes me wonder if there's going to be
07:37a lot
07:37of bad blood at those meetings if we're going to sort of hear things trickle out negatively about the
07:43Ravens kind of in the same way that owners were mad when the Browns gave Deshaun Watson his fully
07:49guaranteed contract so I'm I'm mostly interested in the ripple effects in that way going forward too
07:56ask me how you see it is it Chador versus Deshaun for week one or do you feel like we're
08:01still in
08:01the quarterback mix here what's the look I mean I would say right now with where we are it seems
08:08like
08:08it's those two guys in the mix for week one I think the Browns have been very intentional
08:13with their messaging and and look I mean I think this draft quarterback class still is what it is
08:21and I don't know I mean barring something surprising that they do here I would expect it to be those
08:29two and I think like if you're not taking a quarterback high in the first round like you're
08:34not expecting that guy to necessarily start week one if it's a rookie I mean obviously the Malik
08:41Willis Sweepstates was over before it ever really got started that's a name we had thrown around a lot
08:47I said uh that would be the guy that I think could be best fit but again you know we've
08:53thrown out the
08:54name Anthony Richardson I'm not super crazy about it but I'd be curious if they would add a guy like
09:01that I know Kyler Murray it seems like that those rumors are really tying him to Minnesota so I mean
09:07that would be surprising to me at this point but I just think they they kind of ran out of
09:12options
09:13that could come in and feasibly compete because there just weren't going to be that many outside
09:17of a Malik Willis I don't think Ashley Bastock Cleveland.com on the Megan Wright call Kyle Wright
09:22hotline uh so I will throw out a specific name uh Mack Jones the the 49ers backup uh the price
09:30on him
09:30reportedly astronomical if it comes down is there a price that that would actually make sense
09:36for the Browns for you as the offseason goes on you know I'd be curious like what what does
09:41astronomical mean for them right now like are you trying to ask for multiple first round picks for
09:47him like I I don't know that I would trade a first round pick this year for Mack Jones even
09:52so
09:53I mean I I don't know like a day two day two day three picks if we're talking about that
09:59um then
10:01maybe but I if I'm the Browns right now I wouldn't be trading my valuable valuable valuable first round
10:08picks as you're trying to get younger on offense and looking for problems that you can solve long
10:14term by drafting them essentially and but that messaging again to me just just always very interesting
10:22because it is very very calculated by these teams to try to drive the price up and are you putting
10:30that out there to see how many calls you can get are you putting that out there to stop the
10:33calls
10:34because you don't want to trade the guy and maybe that's the reality maybe they just genuinely do not
10:39want to trade him they like having him on their roster they like him in the role that he's in
10:44uh and
10:45they're not willing to give that up so I think that I put on my conspiracy theory hat a little
10:50bit
10:51when that sort of messaging starts to pop out though all right Ashley seconds ago the Browns did
10:56announced they've tendered uh restricted free agent safety Ronnie Hickman I think we thought
11:00this was coming tell me what that means to you yeah I mean I think we we did think that
11:07move was going to
11:09be coming for them uh and it just seems like that sort of makes sense given his production and and
11:18everything and he's a full-time starter this past year he had 107 total tackles two interceptions
11:25uh he had a handful of past breakups so that to me just sort of makes sense with where that
11:32safety
11:33room is the role he's had uh and he's someone that's gotten comfortable in this defense for them
11:39so not really surprising to me for the second straight week within the confines of the 322 to
11:46337 window we have kept it about football Ashley now last week if you remember JP derailed the end of
11:54the segment I did timeout short kinks we're not doing that today instead we say well done Ashley we
12:01appreciate you and we'll talk to you next week thank you Ashley all right thanks guys
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